A/N:I know I am quite late this month. Let's just say I've been very busy with drawing Reiner and Priss doing things together, fun things, very fun things... ahem. Hopefully this is alright for you all. Praying I didn't somehow create mistakes with various edits over time. Enjoy!
Chapter X: Cruel World
'Cause I was filled with poison
But blessed with beauty and rage
It had grown very late. Zeke had expected Reiner and the girl to have returned by now. The man was silently getting impatient as he stood overlooking the city with a steaming hot cup of coffee in hand, hoping to see the Armored Titan appear through the hole in the opposite wall. Bertolt sat tending to the fire behind him.
"Could they be in trouble?" A nervous Bertolt asked, not taking his eyes off the flames.
"I find it hard to believe Reiner wouldn't be able to take care of any trouble they could run into," Zeke spoke with his eyes still searching for his comrade on the horizon, "Then again, who knows what awaited them..."
"What could be keeping them, then?"
"I suppose we'll find out whenever they return," Zeke responded, then took a sip of his hot beverage. He winced, the drink was just a tad too hot to start sipping on.
"Uh..." Bertolt began awkwardly, "Are you really going to let Reiner bring her to Marley with us?"
"Hm. If my suspicions are correct, then there is no choice but for Miss Ziegler to come with us." Zeke replied without looking to Bertolt, just keeping his eyes forward still.
"What do you mean?"
Zeke didn't respond – he merely hummed to himself. A few moments later, the Warchief's keen ears picked up the thunderous footfalls that could only belong to one thing. Through the hole in the opposite wall, he saw the Armored Titan appear. Once it had entered the city, the Titan slowed it's pace. Zeke smirked, pleased that they had returned, albeit later than he had liked.
Once they reached the Wall where the camp was, the Titan knelt down and lifted his open hand up so Priscilla could dismount the top of his head. He then lowered her to the ground before putting enough distance between them to safely emerge. Reiner didn't push himself as hard on the return as he did earlier so he wasn't as exhausted, meaning he didn't have to rest after the exertion of being in Titan form. Since he was the only one equipped with the ODM, he motioned for Priscilla to get behind him and hold on tightly. Before he launched them into the air to scale the wall, she gave him a sneaky little neck kiss.
"Welcome back," Zeke said as the two of them rejoined camp, "You certainly took your time, didn't you?"
"Yeah, sorry about that." Reiner apologized.
"We were able to gather stuff that I think will be helpful though," Priscilla spoke as she removed the bag from her back and set it down on the ground between herself and Zeke, "It's all written in my people's language so I'll need to read it for you."
"So, these people had their own language?" Zeke asked, "Fascinating. If you're fluent in the language they speak on Paradis then I'd say it's safe to assume your entire society was bilingual."
"Uh, sure. Makes sense, I guess..." Priscilla agreed without giving his words much, if any, thought.
Zeke knelt down and placed his mug to the side so he could delve into the bag. He pulled out the first thing he grabbed, the ragged old journal of her father, which he flipped open to a random page so he could get an idea of just how different the language could be.
"Huh, even the runes are completely foreign..." Zeke marveled, then looked up to Priscilla, "What might this one be?"
"That's my father's personal journal," She explained, feeling a pang of disgust in her stomach.
"You don't look very thrilled about that," Zeke responded lightheartedly, even smirking a bit. It seemed her disdain for it's contents were obvious enough to be painted on her face.
"You'll see why that journal doesn't thrill me," She spoke bitterly.
"Well, why don't we go through it first then? I know you must be exhausted, but time is always working against us Miss Ziegler."
"If I had it my way I'd just have you read it yourself, but since you have no idea how the hell to to that... then fine, let's do it," She said.
"I appreciate it," Zeke replied. He sounded grateful, but Priscilla was still wary of this man and how genuine he was. He then looked to Reiner and Bertolt, "I'd appreciate if Miss Ziegler and I had some privacy."
Strange looks crossed the faces of Reiner and Bertolt, but they were in no position to oppose their leader. Priscilla looked over to Reiner and, slightly reluctant as he was, he nodded at her to stay with Zeke while he and Bertolt gave them space. Zeke turned to Priscilla and gave her a warm smile as Reiner and Bertolt set off to keep watch a distance away from them. But to her, the smile seemed insincere, as if it were something to merely placate her. Her doubts about him ranged from the words he spoke right down to the most minute expression he made.
"Well then, shall we begin?" He asked.
The fire beside them was enough to illuminate the texts despite night having fallen – the light of the pale moon on the clear night aided too. Priscilla opened the journal and set it in her lap, but a thought was in her mind that she had wanted to ask since earlier in the day.
"Why didn't you give me an ODM when we left too? Why just Reiner?" She asked Zeke.
"Reiner was able to carry you up, wasn't he?" Zeke laughed, "But in all seriousness, we needed to have Bertolt equipped just in case... plus..."
"Plus?" She pressed.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you were not very skilled with that gear, were you?" Zeke posited. Priscilla's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped ever so slightly, "Ah... your face betrays you yet again."
"How could you... know that?" She asked, incredulous.
"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, it's just an observation – but your body type," Zeke began, and Priscilla's eyes went even wider, "From what I know about how the gear works and the physics of it, the way your weight is distributed would make it more difficult for you."
"I..." She choked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Your weight being mainly concentrated in your breast and hip regions would throw things off, not to mention the slim waist in relation to those doesn't help either... Please forgive me if I'm crossing any lines with these comments," Zeke continued, "But am I wrong?"
"Using the ODM gear was very difficult for me, yes... It took a lot of effort for me to stay balanced, but I thought that was the case for us all..." She admitted sheepishly, "I didn't realize that was the problem..."
"It's the most logical conclusion we can make..." He added, "And while you may be a soldier, I wouldn't have wanted anything bad to happen to you with an ODM mishap when scaling the wall. I was certain Reiner would see you safely up here."
"Right, right..." She mumbled. She looked over her shoulder and saw Reiner and Bertolt standing quite a bit away now. While it obviously didn't matter if Reiner heard what they spoke of with their discoveries, she was relieved to keep it from Bertolt... for now at least, there was no way for her to know whether Zeke would openly share what they were going to discuss.
"Reiner?" Bertolt piped up.
The blonde Warrior had been stealing glances back to where Zeke and Priscilla were sitting despite being quite a distance away by now. With his name called, he looked back to his friend with a curious look.
"Something the matter?" He asked.
"I'm a bit bothered by this whole situation..." Bertolt began, "Zeke mentioned she could be important to our cause but didn't elaborate on that... Why is he being so secretive?"
"...I'm sure he has his reasons," Reiner said, although he didn't like how dodgy Zeke was all of a sudden either, "He's our Warchief. We have to follow his orders."
"You must know something already," Bertolt continued, suddenly growing accusatory, "She'd be willing to share with you, especially when it was just the two of you alone."
"We didn't get into anything that talked about eradicating the devils of this island," Reiner answered honestly, "What we found out isn't anything that would matter to you or the future we fight for. It was just things about her family."
Reiner's honesty shifted to be more of a half truth at the end, but the fact that he and Priscilla read about some science jargon too didn't need to be brought up since that would just lead to Bertolt asking more questions.
"Do you think Zeke will share what she tells him...?"
"We'll have to wait and see," Reiner replied flatly, he was getting tired of Bertolt's line of questioning and increasing paranoia.
"How can we even trust her? Who is she? What kind of person lives outside of the Walls on this island?" Bertolt went on and on, "The more I get to know about Ziegler the more she begins to frighten me..."
"Bertolt!" Reiner exclaimed in irritation, shocking his friend a bit, but he calmed his tone before speaking again, "If Zeke says she can help us, then we have no choice but to trust him."
"You're biased, Reiner..." A hurt Bertolt retorted, "You love her so of course you'll agree with Zeke on that."
"You're not wrong," Reiner agreed, "But I value her more than Zeke does, no matter what he has planned."
"What if he intends to... do something to hurt her?" Bertolt asked meekly, drawing a scowl from Reiner, "If his plan involves taking her away from you somehow, what will you do then, Reiner? Where does your loyalty lie?"
In his mind Reiner knew the answer to that question easily, but he didn't want to answer it. He didn't want to speak his truth to Bertolt. A divide had formed between them, and it's name was Priscilla Ziegler – but Reiner would not lie to himself, and that was good enough for him. What Bertolt didn't know wouldn't hurt him.
"So why don't you give me a brief summary of what's in that journal first?" Zeke suggested.
"The entries I read mostly focused on me... the day of my birth, how I was growing up... Father mentioned that my name is Adrestia and that Priscilla Ziegler is a fake name they gave me when the left me in this city," She began.
"Is that so?" Zeke asked, then added with a smirk, "So should we be calling you Adrestia now, then?"
"No!" She immediately shouted with nostrils flared in anger, shocking Zeke a bit, "I... Uh, sorry about that..."
"It's fine, go on..."
"Well father mentioned that my people... the Hyperians... they faced a fertility crisis and that's why they went to Marley. They specifically mentioned seeking help from the Marleyans, no other nations were spoken of. I was the first birth in ten years, with the last one prior to me being my older brother."
"Older brother?" Zeke asked as his eyes shimmered with interest. Priscilla then dug into her bag and pulled out the photo of her family.
"Here, this us all of us. Mother, father, my brother and I," She stated, "Our names are all written on the back... I'm pretty sure his name was Anteros."
"Anteros..." Zeke continued in his low voice as he adjusted his glasses and looked closely at the image, "This is a photograph... not the kind of tech the people of this island have any access to."
"Reiner said that too..." Priscilla confirmed, "I noticed other weird stuff too. The light sources in my house... the lamps... I don't know what they were, there were round glass things inserted in them."
"Electricity too?" Zeke marveled, "This hometown of yours is far more advanced than the Eldian civilization of Paradis, your society was easily on par with Marley from what you're telling me right now."
"Uh huh, right... Anyway, my father wrote more than a few entries about how there were no more births after me, that the 'crisis' reached it's peak and that's why they had to find an answer elsewhere. And father... he..." Priscilla paused because recalling this detail made her sick, "From the first entry after I was born he alluded to this, but then in future ones he made it very clear that he was fixated on me being fertile and it being crucial that I could... breed."
"Ahh... so that's why you had such a sour attitude over talking about this," Zeke commented. Priscilla sat seething internally, so Zeke continued, "Why was that so important to him?"
"All I read was that it was for an alleged 'greater good,'" She spat out those last two words with venom, "I'm sure there's details about that somewhere, but I didn't get to them."
"Fascinating..." Zeke murmured.
"Not exactly the word I'd use but whatever..." Priscilla remarked bitterly, but her mind couldn't help but linger on the subject of procreation, "There is something else about that... I read it in another book, one about anatomy. Apparently it's not possible for an Eldian and I to... Have children."
"Huh..." Zeke breathed, sitting back and crossing his arms pensively, "Why is that?"
"I didn't find out yet. I saw a mention of some sort of 'curse' having to do with it... a curse related to the Goddess they worshiped in my city."
"A curse? Perhaps it's some sort of creation myth?" Zeke suggested.
"Calling it a 'myth' makes it sound like it's just a children's tale..." Priscilla huffed, "You said the Eldians carry the curse of Ymir, so it shouldn't be unbelievable that some other race has been cursed in their own way too."
"I won't rule out either possibility just yet... Whether it's truly divine creationism – the work of a higher being – or something with a basis in science is something we'll find out together."
"What about Reiner?" She immediately countered, "I want him to know everything too."
Priscilla's eyes wandered over to Reiner and Bertolt, who had traveled even further away since she last looked over. Zeke's pleasant demeanor sank a bit, irritated by the girl's one track mind impeding their discussion. He cleared his throat to regain her attention, causing her gaze to shift right back to him.
"What you need to understand is I am the Warchief, I'm their leader. What you're telling me right now is what I consider privileged information... I'll be the one to decide what those two get to know." He sternly explained.
"I really don't care who you are," Priscilla responded flatly as she narrowed her eyes at Zeke, "Because to me you aren't anything, but Reiner is my everything... so in my opinion, he has a right to know all there is about me."
"Well, aren't you a defiant one?" Zeke spoke and leaned forward in an attempt to intimidate the pale girl, "You don't get to decide that though. I'm the one in charge."
"Not of me." She sneered back.
"Maybe rethink that statement, Miss Ziegler. Consider the fact that I could shift into my Titan at any moment and crush your body between my teeth."
"Tch..." She scoffed, leaning in closer to him as well, getting quite smug because she knew she had the upper hand, "You told me I have power... Power to help accomplish your goals. You wouldn't dare eat me and lose whatever it is I can do for you..."
The pair stared at each other intensely, like the one to blink first would be the "loser" of whatever strange battle was going on here. Priscilla's lips curled into a smug smile and her eyes were so narrow that they were damn near shut – her air of superiority irked Zeke. His nostrils flared and he let out a sharp exhale, sitting back up straight.
"What if by eating you I gained what I need?" The man countered.
"What if I withheld information?!" She shouted, eyes going wide. She snapped her father's journal shut and held it up in one hand, "Or deceived you and lied about what's in these books? You'd never know, you can't read them! I'm the only one in this whole damn world who can."
"Are you this difficult with everyone?" Zeke growled.
"Not with Reiner." She replied with a smirk.
Zeke sighed deeply and hung his head in frustration.
"I just want to get back to the matter at hand." He spoke as he rubbed his temples.
"Same here... but just remember: I'm the one in control of what you get to know, so you better choose your words wisely with me."
"...Fine, just get back to it," Zeke conceded reluctantly. He thought it wise to add one more critical word though, despite what a pain in the ass she was, "Please."
"Well... This whole breeding thing gets worse," She began, "In the anatomy book it talked about inbreeding between siblings and cousins being pretty much a normal thing... and suggested that they end up producing stronger offspring than people who don't have any blood relation."
"Now that's interesting..."
"I think the word you're looking for is disgusting, actually." Priscilla corrected him, but Zeke went on with his thinking out loud without missing a beat.
"And you had a brother..."
"I'm going to stop you right there because I know exactly what's going through your head, and I'd rather not hear you say it." Priscilla said sternly.
"All I'll say is something like that goes against all known laws of biology – incest is something avoided at all costs, especially in humans." Zeke said as he looked up again, his eyes meeting her green ones with a curious look, "So what exactly are you then?"
"W-What...?" Priscilla gasped, "I'm... I'm human. What the hell else would I be?"
"That's certainly the question on everyone's mind..." Zeke chuckled, "Could something more be lying dormant under that pretty, unsuspecting facade? A higher being barricaded behind a human shell?"
"You sound ridiculous, Zeke..." Priscilla sneered.
"How can you be so certain that I'm not onto something?" He mused, raising his hand up and slowly reaching towards her, "You yourself don't even know everything about your people yet. All we have are small bits of information that we're struggling to piece together."
"Eh...?" She breathed as Zeke's fingers came dangerously close to her face.
"If devils still roam this earth, how can we say with certainty that a divine race didn't recently exist too?" He continued, his fingertips making contact with her cheek, "And that one goddess still remains?"
Priscilla grunted angrily and slapped Zeke's hand away from her. She didn't want anyone to touch her but Reiner, especially no other man. It didn't matter the context of the contact – she would accept the touch of no other.
"Reiner said it himself... there are no such things as goddesses." She growled back at Zeke.
"Reiner doesn't know everything."
"And you do?!" She exclaimed, eyes going wild.
"Not everything," Zeke murmured, "But I know more than most about the nature of this world. More than Reiner and much more than you."
Priscilla grimaced at him. She raised her arm up to her face and rubbed the spot on her cheek with her sleeve where he touched her, as if trying to cleanse herself. Zeke thought she looked like a cat grooming itself. She went on rubbing at her cheek for an odd length of time, and when she finally stopped it left a light red blotch on her face. Her hand limply dropped into her lap – she was exhausted from everything that transpired that day.
"Zeke, I want to go to sleep..." Priscilla whined.
"I suppose you do need your rest. You'll have to forgive me being so thirsty for knowledge. I'm sorry I had to take time out of your night, but I didn't have any other option given the foreign writing..." Zeke said.
"It's fine." Priscilla said as she rose to her feet. She was eager to cuddle up next to Reiner, who was in their tent and surely already asleep.
"Before you go anywhere..." Zeke spoke up just as Priscilla was about to turn away, "May I ask you a few personal questions?"
"Eh...? Sure, go for it I guess." She replied, too tired to give his words a great deal of consideration. What's the worst he could ask?
"When did you and Reiner start having sex?"
Priscilla gasped – he wasn't kidding when he said it was a personal question. She didn't know what to expect from him, but she damn sure didn't think he'd casually ask about her sex life.
"Why the hell do you want to know that?!" She exclaimed, red in the face from embarrassment – an emotion she wasn't one to fall victim to all that often.
"You have to trust me when I say it's relevant..." Zeke assured her, "Try to keep your voice down."
"It had to be over a month ago now..." She said, not entirely sure, "Time got a little muddled for me when I was imprisoned"
"If it helps you gauge the time better, Reiner and Bertolt joined up with me here about two months ago."
I was locked up for a while huh.. Priscilla thought.
"Just over two months then actually. It was the night before he was assigned to a different post than I was."
"Alright... Now can you tell me when you last bled?"
First her sex life and now that, she was sure his bold questioning was payback for making his life difficult earlier. As strange of a question as it was, she felt compelled to answer since she'd gone this far already – and he did assure her it was relevant, so she went for it.
"It's hard to remember but I want to say a couple weeks before Reiner and I started..." Priscilla spoke. Zeke stroked his bearded chin while she stared down at him, waiting for an explanation.
"...Maybe you should sit back down for this," Zeke suggested. Priscilla huffed but decided to abide by him, sitting down across from the man again. He breathed in deep before he began again, "You can't breed with an Eldian that's been established... but Reiner..."
"What about Reiner? You said only Eldians can turn into Titans so-"
"He's only half," Zeke cut her off, "His mother is Eldian but his father was a Marleyan."
"...Only half Eldian?" She repeated slowly.
"That's right. We have no way of knowing since your people must have never ran into this kind of situation, but perhaps him not being a full blooded Eldian makes him an exception," Zeke explained, "Ever since it was clear that you two have an intimate relationship, I definitely considered the fact that you could be pregnant."
"Pregnant..." She was at a loss for words and all she could do was repeat what Zeke spoke, as if doing that would help her process it.
"Two months is still very early on, and that's if you were able to conceive the first time... and we of course have no method to test you here... I'm no doctor but have you noticed any changes in your body lately?"
"Err... well actually... yes," She admitted quietly, "The other night where I said I was too uncomfortable to sleep... it was my, uh, my breasts were very sore."
"I see... It's not much to go on, but I think we should err on the side of caution with this," Zeke said, "Until we know for sure, it's best to assume you are pregnant."
Priscilla's stomach turned and her chest suddenly went tight. She and Reiner just dealt with the fact that they could never have a family, but now Zeke was telling her she might be with child due to a convenient genetic loophole. It was pretty stupid of the couple to have been so reckless, when the sex first started neither of them knew about the Hyperian and Eldian thing so it should have been a very present fear that Priscilla could get pregnant – but being young, in love and horny tends to cloud the mind.
This only complicated their situation. Now they could have a legacy, but Reiner was still going to die in just a few years – leaving the potential child fatherless for most of it's life. Priscilla looked down and one of her hands, almost as if magnetized due to this new information, rubbed across her stomach.
"...What do I tell him?" She murmured, "He only just told me about how you shifters die after just 13 years, he even said that it's for the best that we couldn't have a baby together..."
"So you only just found out..." Zeke said in a comforting tone. Priscilla nodded.
"We already came to terms with it, and now what shouldn't have happened... did happen," She continued with her voice beginning to break, "What do I do? How do I tell him?"
"I don't have the answer on how to talk to Reiner about it," Zeke began. He reached out and placed a hand on her knee, "But if you chose to, you could have the pregnancy terminated when we return to Marley."
"T-Terminated?!" She exclaimed, neck snapping up. Her eyes lit up with disbelief and met Zeke's serene blue eyes. She didn't know the specifics of what he was talking about but the terminology of terminating a pregnancy was clear enough for her.
"It's generally frowned upon by the less liberal members of society, but it is an option," Zeke explained, "Especially if you didn't want to tell Reiner you were ever pregnant. Keep it a secret and have the fetus terminated without him knowing."
Priscilla lunged forward abruptly, thrusting one arm out and grabbing Zeke by the throat. In a strange surge of strength, she was able to force him down onto his back and keep him pinned as she hovered above him – the disbelief in her eyes had faded and now they were glowing with fury.
"Don't tell Reiner? Keep it a secret?" She echoed venomously. Her voice was low and dangerous, "What a piece of shit you are, Zeke..."
"Pri- I-" He choked, but she gripped him harder so he couldn't even come close to speaking.
"No. He has to know. I don't want to do anything unless he knows about it," She growled as she kept him subdued, "And together we'll decide what needs to be done."
With her conviction known, she sat back and released Zeke from her vice grip. He coughed and gasped for air desperately. He felt utterly weak and shocked that this girl was strong enough to hold him down and subdue him seemingly effortlessly and he wasn't able to do a damn thing about it. The pale maiden stood up and looked down upon Zeke, absolutely disgusted with him. She wanted to literally kick him while he was down and hurt him as much as she could, but Priscilla kept her cool and just walked away.
As she made her way back to the tent she shared with Reiner, Zeke sat up and watched her go. She could be a bit of a pain in the ass to talk to, but suddenly she seemed sinister.
"Priscilla Ziegler... Just what kind of beast are you hiding?" Zeke asked himself quietly as she left him behind. He kept his eyes on her – despite the danger that was emanating from her, Zeke found her curiously alluring, "I guess I'll just have to find it myself..."
What beast that may or may not be hidden inside her was calmed once she entered the tent and found Reiner fast asleep. Her expression softened as she looked upon her future husband, her stare lingering only for a moment before she laid down next to him. Priscilla snuggled up to him lovingly, leaning in so her lips were right by his ear.
"Congrats Reiner..." She whispered to her sleeping lover, "You're gonna be a daddy."
"Come on, Addie. We can't be too long or someone will notice..."
A boy of about 15 or 16 lead a young girl by the hand through the thicket that guarded the great city of Hyperia. Both with silvery white hair, pale skin and emerald eyes.
"We're not supposed to leave the city," The little girl said timidly, "We're going to get in trouble."
"If we're quick then nobody will know," The boy assured her and then looked back over his shoulder at her, "I think it's important for me to show you what's beyond the boundary of our world."
"Yes, brother." She obediently responded, but the worry in her would not settle.
The two came to the edge of the forest and the boy stopped, gesturing for the little girl to stand beside him. He crouched down next to her as they peered out into the open plains, putting an arm around her.
"Look, Adrestia... Do you see them?" He whispered to her.
"W-What..." Adrestia began with her eyes widening as she gawked at what her brother had brought her to see, "What are they, Anteros?"
"Titans."
Horrible giant creatures that varied in size lumbered across the land, all heading in the same direction. They looked like humans to an extent, but something about them was "off" enough to make them utterly frightening. They weren't close to the tree line, but not so far off that the two of them couldn't make sense of their general looks. Adrestia stared in horror and began to shake – she'd never seen something as monstrous as these creatures before. Hyperia was focused on the beauty of all things, so such ugliness was foreign and disturbing to her.
"Brother..." She spoke as her eyes that remained fixed on the Titans began to water, "Why did you bring me here...?"
"There will come a day where you'll have to face the horrors of what lies beyond Hyperia. It's a cruel world out there, and the Titans are only one part of it..." Anteros replied, squeezing her shoulder. His tone then grew grim, "We've lived in this protected place all our lives, safe from all the evils of this world. But we're going to have to leave soon."
"Why?" Adrestia asked, finally looking away from the Titans and to her brother.
"Our people are in trouble, Addie. You're too young to understand why, but father says we have to go," He continued, his tone shifting to something more bitter now and his grip on her shoulder tightening, "And what father says, goes."
"It's not fair..." Adrestia sniffled, "I don't want to leave... I don't want to go anywhere!"
The girl threw herself into her brother's arms and started to sob hysterically, repeatedly uttering 'it's not fair' between her cries. Anteros held her tightly to try and calm her down. After letting her cry for a bit, he leaned in close and whispered in her ear...
"Do you want to know a secret?"
"Huh...?" She asked, pulling back to look at him.
"Titans are humans... Humans were transformed into those things you see before you now."
"What?!" She shrieked hysterically, "How?! D-Does that mean I could get turned into a Titan?!"
"No, no... I would never let you become a monster, sweet sister. Besides, it's impossible for us to become Titans." Anteros went on in a soothing tone.
"I... I don't understand..." Adrestia whimpered.
"There's only one race of people that can become Titans. I know this may surprise you but... other people live on this island outside of Hyperia," Anteros explained. By now his sister's fear and woe had subsided and curiosity swelled within her, "They are called Eldians and even though they look human, Titans are their true form. These 'people' live like animals caged within the barricades of their walled cities, trembling in fear of the Titans – all the while blissfully unaware that they're living in fear of themselves."
"How do you know all this, brother...?" Adrestia marveled at his wealth of knowledge.
"I have my ways... but father would never pass on the knowledge to you unless it was absolutely necessary. He thinks you're better off not knowing because..."
Anteros' words got stuck in his throat as he thought about what he was going to say. Adrestia looked at him with eyes that begged for him to go on.
"Because why, Anteros?" She asked.
"Because... Father, he said it's too dangerous for you to come with the rest of us. You're too young to make the long journey where we're all going, so... he's going to leave you inside the walled city of the Eldians and return for you after we get the help we need." He replied, the anguish on his face as he spoke couldn't be hidden – it like he was being stabbed in the heart as he revealed this to her, "It's crucial that you live, and taking you on a dangerous journey... it's risky. I don't like it, but you'll... be safer staying and waiting for us to come back."
"No!" Adrestia screamed and jumped into her brother's arms again. She began to bawl again, "Don't leave me brother! Please! I don't want you to go!"
Anteros held his sister tightly as the resentment he felt towards their father boiled in his belly. His unblinking eyes burned with hatred as Adrestia had her face buried in his chest while she cried.
"I don't like it either... but what father says, goes," He spat those last words out with utter loathing, "We'll be together again soon, Addie. It's just a little while. You staying safe is the most important thing... not just to me, father or to all of Hyperia – but to the world."
"But brother... What am I going to do? I-I need you..." She sniffled, looking up from his chest so that their matching green eyes met one another.
"Hey now," He said, wiping her tears away gently, "I know what a tough girl my sweet little sis is. I know you'll stay strong for me."
"I'll... do my best..."
"Good girl," He added, giving her a pat on the head, "We should be getting back, but before we go, would you like to know one more secret?"
"Yeah!" The now enthusiastic young girl exclaimed.
"There will come a day where you and I kill every last Titan that walks the earth... and not just the Titans, but every single one of those soulless devils that are pretending to be human too. None of them can be trusted and none of them deserve to live. They are life unworthy of life... and together, you and I will cleanse the earth of their wretchedness."
"We can do that?" Adrestia murmured with wonder.
"Yes, and we must," Anteros replied as he pet his dear sister's silky hair, "For that is our purpose."
Priscilla's eyes shot open. In her sleep she had rolled onto her back while Reiner was still on his side, completely undisturbed. Her head was throbbing and drops of sweat dotted her brow. She sat up slowly and breathed deep.
"Was that a dream...?" She whispered, careful not to be too loud and wake up her sleeping partner, "It felt too real... and why do I feel so horrible?"
For that is our purpose
The final words spoken in her dream lingered in her mind. It conjured a sinister feeling in Priscilla's gut, but the boy who was clearly her brother spoke it as if it were a good thing; like it were something to take pride in and look forward to. Zeke had mentioned she could help them exterminate the Eldians of this island, which is what her brother must have meant by saying they would kill all the Titans and those 'devils pretending to be human' too. Priscilla tried to brush it off as just a bizarre dream, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being shown a memory. As if her subconscious was trying to reveal more to her now that she'd opened the door of knowledge in her waking life... A lost memory coming back to her wouldn't be too wild of an idea, she supposed.
"What did he mean by that?" She continued to herself, "My purpose... is to kill Eldians?"
She felt the need to get up and stretch so she left the tent and carefully rose to her feet. Nobody else seemed to be awake, which was no surprise since it was so early in the morning that it was dark and the moon still hung in the sky. The girl inhaled deeply and felt the crisp air fill her lungs. She suddenly started to feel better now that she was out there in the open with the clear sky full of stars above her. Priscilla really wished Reiner were awake – she wanted to talk to him, kiss him and be held by him after feeling so deprived of that before going to sleep due to her chat with Zeke – but she wasn't going to deliberately disturb his rest to satisfy her selfish neediness.
Thinking of getting to talk to Reiner brought her mind back to that heavy subject that she'd eventually have to bring up with him, and it made her so nervous just to think about it. She placed both of her hands on her stomach and wondered if Zeke could be right about her being pregnant. Priscilla wasn't all that knowledgeable about reproduction and what it felt like to be with child, especially at such an early stage. It was far to soon for her to have a "bump" that would be able to confirm it without any doctor needed. It was so obscenely frightening not knowing.
"Priss..." Came the tired voice of Reiner behind her. With a tiny gasp she turned to see him emerging from the tent, "What are you doing out here?"
"I had a weird dream and needed some air..." She freely admitted as he approached her, "Did my fumbling around wake you? Sorry."
"It wasn't that, somehow I think I could just sense you weren't next to me anymore even though I was asleep." He explained.
"So it was still kind of my fault is what you're saying?" She grinned, drawing a quiet chuckle out of him.
"Well, as long as nothing's wrong it doesn't matter," He said and extended a hand to her, "Let's go back to bed."
"Yeah, sounds good." She agreed, reaching out and grabbing his hand.
As the two of them ducked back into their tent, Priscilla felt the need to speak what was weighing heavily on her mind, but it was so difficult. Reiner released her hand and laid down on his back, silently inviting her to cuddle up next to him and Priscilla was more than happy to of course. She laid down on her side next to him and he wrapped an arm around her and held her close. She nuzzled up to his chest and listened to his steady breathing while she contemplated whether or not to speak.
"Reiner..." She began, his name clumsily spilling out of her mouth.
"What's up?" He replied.
"Uh..." She choked, suddenly very much not wanting to talk about it, "I just... I wanted to say I love you."
"Heh... I love you too. That's something I'll never get tired of saying."
"Me neither." Priscilla agreed with a warm smile, "You know what else I know I'll never get tired of doing?"
"...I can think of a few things." Reiner snickered.
"No not like that..." She insisted, "Although you're not wrong... but what I was thinking is that I'll never get tired of introducing myself to people as Mrs. Priscilla Braun."
"Mrs. Priscilla Braun? I like the sound of that. I know I'm gonna love showing you off to everyone back home," He responded with a smug grin, "There's not a chance in hell anyone has seen someone as beautiful as you, you'll be catching every guy's eye."
"Pffft, yeah right..." Priscilla scoffed and rolled her eyes, "I'm sure all the girls will be jealous that I get to have you all to myself."
The two of them laughed quietly as they imagined little nuances of their life in Marley together. It was a nice break from the dire subjects they had endured recently. However, Priscilla knew she had to talk to him about it soon but couldn't bring herself to do it just yet. Despite her burning need to put it out there, she found herself holding back. It wasn't exactly hard to pinpoint why it was so hard – on top of the shifter curse, both of them being just 17 wasn't exactly ideal either.
As she drifted off to sleep, she hoped no more dreams would disturb her that night.